Meaning & use
transient
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Meanings
adjectivecomparableformal
Lasting or staying only a short time before passing away.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after a linking verb: transient fame, the effect was transient.
Patterns
- transient in nature
The pain was transient and disappeared within an hour.
Fame in the music business can be transient.
Spring snow is a transient feature of this valley.
adjectivebefore a nounformal
Staying in a place for only a short time, as with workers, residents or visitors.
Grammar: Usually used before a noun: a transient population.
Patterns
- transient workers
- transient population
The coastal town has a transient population of seasonal workers.
Transient guests rarely stay more than one night.
A transient lifestyle makes it hard to put down roots.
nouncountableformalAmerican
A person who moves from place to place and stays only briefly, often without a permanent home.
Grammar: Countable: a transient, two transients.
Patterns
- a transient
The motel mostly hosts transients passing through.
The shelter serves both local residents and transients.
Police asked the transient where he had slept.
Word forms
| comparative | more transient |
|---|---|
| superlative | most transient |
| plural (noun) | transients |
Common combinations
- transient population
- A university town has a transient population.
- a transient phenomenon
- The aurora is a transient phenomenon.
- transient nature
- He reflected on the transient nature of success.
- transient ischemic attack
- A transient ischemic attack is a brief mini-stroke.
- largely transient
- The effect was largely transient.
Synonyms and how they differ
- temporary
- Temporary is the common word for lasting a limited time, while transient suggests passing quickly and naturally fading.
- fleeting
- Fleeting is more poetic and suggests something vanishing almost at once, like a fleeting glimpse.
- ephemeral
- Ephemeral is more literary and often points to beautiful, short-lived things, unlike the plainer transient.
- brief
- Brief simply means short in time and does not carry the idea of passing away.
Opposites
Word family
- transience noun
- the quality of lasting a short time
- transiently adverb
- in a way that lasts a short time
- transiency noun
- another form of transience
- transit noun
- the movement of people or goods from one place to another
Commonly confused: transient or transitory? transient or transit?
transient vs transitory
Transitory is a close relative meaning not lasting, and the two are often interchangeable. Transient can also be a noun for a wandering person.
transient vs transit
Transit is about passing through or being carried, not about lasting briefly.
Practice
The relief from the new medicine was only ____, and the symptoms returned by evening.
Choose one answer.
Transient means lasting only a short time, which fits symptoms returning. Permanent, chronic and constant describe things that last or keep going.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “transient”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.